Calgary Stampede rodeo ‘should be stopped,’ Bob Barker says after Price is Right contestant wins trip to event

Retired Price is Right host Bob Barker is speaking out against the Calgary Stampede after a contestant on Wednesday’s episode won a trip to the event. The prize, valued at $25,329, included airfare to Calgary, five days at a hotel with car rental, two days at the Stampede, tickets to the rodeo and chuckwagon races, six pairs of leather boots and a Toyota Tacoma truck. Mr. Barker was anything but thrilled by the win. “I’m concerned about the Calgary Stampede’s history of animals dying and animals being abused on a regular basis, not unlike every rodeo here in the U.S. They’re all cruel,” he said from his home in Los Angeles. “They don’t represent the glory of the Old West, or the glory of the Canadian West, they are just cruel and unsavoury forms of entertainment that should be stopped altogether.” Mr. Barker, who retired from the show in 2007, said he first became concerned about the direction of The Price is Right when the show gave away tickets to SeaWorld in Florida last month. He said he called the executive producer to complain, but never got a call back. When Mr. Barker headed the longtime program beloved by canny consumers, “we didn’t do anything that could be described as harmful for animals. We didn’t have fur coats on the show, we didn’t give away leather on the show. We didn’t give away anything objectionable, we were very careful.”...more